Thoughts on Civil Disobedience and the Mexican War


            Henry David Thoreau was a citizen of the United States of America from 1817 to 1862. He was a very opinionated and passionate man. If he believed in something or that a citizen should have a right, then he felt as though everyone should know. In his work, Civil Disobedience,  Thoreau’s main topic was his discussed with the multitude of taxes being imposed upon the citizens of the United States. He first discusses the immorality of the governments actions surrounding the various taxes. He believes that “The government is best which governs the least”. This means that he thinks the best action for the government is to leave the people alone. This would allow room for the citizens to be held fully responsible for their own actions. However, he does not think that government should be fully removed, but it should be improved upon by the input of the citizens. Thoreau believes that the current government treats anyone wishing to change the actions of the government as a criminal. Therefore, he believes that the government would try to overlook nearly all matters of justice, morality, and ethics. The government we have right now has a better and clearer system when is comes to these matters. However, there are still cases that Thoreau would see as unjust. One of these examples is eminent domain. This is where the government has the right to take any citizen’s land and pay them below the actual value of the property.

            A similar situation occurred on a much larger scale and started the Mexican War. This was a fierce war between Mexico and the United States over the border between Texas and Mexico. While the land belonged to Mexico, the United States felt as though they should expand their territory, so they decided to take the land by force. President Polk choose to sent a diplomat to discuss boundary adjustments, but when the mission failed he sent troops to the Rio Grande to claim it as the boundary. However, when Mexico sent troops to the Rio Grande, President Polk saw it as an invasion and asked Congress to declare war on Mexico. Polk’s intentions were to push Mexico to war, so that the United States could gain more land. These actions were not ethical on the president’s part.

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